Ivory Coast — Abidjan is situated around a lagoon. The lagoon, several kilometers inland, starts at the Ghanaian border and stretches for 300 kilometers along the entire eastern half of the coast of the Ivory Coast. The lagoon takes it’s name from the Ebrié people, one of over 60 ethnic groups amongst the country’s 13.8 million people. The Generation Festival (Fête de Generation) is celebrated once every three years in Ebrié culture. Blokosso was originally an Ebrié village until Abidjan grew and enveloped it. The Tchagba Agban category celebrated their Generation Festival in Blokosso during the first week of August 1998.
Taylor’s election
Liberia — After Liberia’s seven-year war, the people of Monrovia welcomed the chance to vote in the country’s presidential elections in 1997. The religious gave thanks to God as supporters of presidential candidate Charles Taylor celebrated, yet for many Liberians everyday life is still a struggle.
South Africa — The Miss Gay Gauteng pageant, open to cross-dressing gay men, was held in the Witwatersrand Theatre in Johannesburg in 1997. This sort of pageant is usually very well supported when held in a local nightspot frequented by Gauteng’s gay community, but local theatre going audiences failed to pack in the theatre.
Poor organisation and weak marketing combined with a handfull of spectators led to the pageant being postponed for many hours. None the less, the participants applied make-up and costume and tried to choreograph the show whilst waiting for the show’s organisers and judges to arrive. Many finishing touches to make-up were applied and re-applied and costumes made just right and tales were swapped as the contestants refused to give up on the hope that the crowds would soon be in to see who would be crowned queen.
Relocating elephant
South Africa — This feature shows the relocation of a family of elephants from the Kruger National Park in South Africa over a distance of 700km to the Marakele National Park in 1997. Many conservation experts believe that the relocation of family units can be extremely successful and is a far better alternative to the practice of culling.
Friday night at Baragwanath Hospital
Scenes from a friday night at the trauma unit of the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto in 1993. At the time of photography, the hospital is the only hospital in South Africa’s largest township and the biggest hospital in the world sprawling over 173 acres, 429 buildings and 10km of corridor. The hospital has about 3,000 beds to serve a population of about four million.
Portrait of Kevin Carter in The Star’s darkroom
A portrait of influential South African photographer Kevin Carter in The Star newspaper’s darkroom in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1989. Carter was an award-winning photojournalist and conflict photographer, receiving a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph depicting the 1993 famine in Sudan which drew both praise and condemnation. Carter took his own life in 1994 at the age of 33.